After the announcements of many, many new notebooks and hybrid devices, it is Sony’s turn today for their major product announcements. Surprisingly there are only two new devices coming from the Japanese company, with the flagship Windows 8 hybrid Ultrabook being the new VAIO Duo 13 – which Intel curiously showed off yesterday at their press event.

When the first VAIO Duo 11 was launched in November last year, we questioned the long-term durability of the sliding mechanism Sony christened as the Surf Slider. With the new VAIO Duo 13, Sony has gone for a slimmer hinge as well as removing the ugly exposed cables when it is used as a laptop. But, like the original Surf Slider mechanism, users can easily lift the screen from its default tablet position with only one hand.

More interesting is the fact that the new VAIO Duo 13, as its name suggests, manages to fit a 13-inch touchscreen without increasing the dimensions of the older VAIO Duo 11. By shrinking the bezels and utilizing a carbon fibre chassis, the new VAIO Duo 13 weighs a mere 27.2g heavier than its predecessor. Sony’s even managed to cram a touchpad and an integrated stylus – quite an engineering feat.

Finally, the VAIO Duo 13 packs a 13-inch scratch-resistant Full HD IPS screen, with the company’s Triluminos display that powers Sony’s BRAVIA TV line, on top of the X-Reality for Mobile engine. Also, this intra-company synergy is further enhanced with the addition of an Exmor R sensor on the webcam and Exmor RS sensor on the 8MP rear camera with the CamScanner app. Rounding up the specs list of the VAIO Duo 13 is an Intel Haswell 4th-gen Core processor, NFC, a battery pack slated for 10 hours of use, and also optional 4G LTE connectivity.

The new Sony VAIO Duo 13 will be available in the US from this month with prices starting from $1399 (around RM4200), in two colours: Carbon Black and Carbon White. So far there is no word yet on international availability, though.